Azure Dragon Hall was the first line of defense against the four hostile forces. The ck Dragon Hall was situated five million li to its rear left, while Red Dragon Hall was situated seven hundred million li to its rear right, both considered as the second line of defense. Yellow Dragon Hall was situated in the middle of the three halls and the Dragon God Celestial Pce, and hence was thest line of defense. Usually, it supported the other three halls and was supplementary in nature.


    Every hundred thousand li ahead of Azure Dragon Hall there were three scout groups, spread out in a circr manner and quite separated from each other. Usually, every ind needed two Sea of Soul realm overseers and twenty Astral Reaching experts. They had no other job than patrolling around twice a day. All of their remaining time could be devoted to cultivation, or they could also look for resources nearby. After all, the ocean had never beencking in resources, including many treasures that couldn''t be found anywhere else on the continent. Moreover, they also received bountiful spirit stones and medicinal pills.


    A hundred thousand li had three scouting inds, and three hundred thousand li had nine overseer inds. All of these indsy surrounding the Blood Battlefield Ocean.


    The Blood Battlefield Ocean was considered themon ground between Dragon God Celestial Pce and the four forces, stretching a million and three hundred thousand li from east to west, and four hundred thousand li north to south.


    The Blood Battlefield Ocean could be considered as the region with the most abundant resources in Eastern Shallow Ocean, with more than a thousand big-scale inds, tens of thousands of mid-sized inds, and small inds being simply too many to count, just like the stars in the sky.


    "Three thousand spirit veins have already been discovered in the Blood Battlefield Ocean. A thousand are in control of our Dragon God Celestial Pce while the rest two thousand are divided among the four enemies." Xing Meilian led Ye Chen around the surroundings of Blood Battlefield and spoke.


    "A thousand veins!"


    Ye Chen inwardly smacked his lips. He obviously wouldn''t think that all of these thousand veins were low-grade. They certainly had mid-grade ones and even high-grade veins.


    Looking at Ye Chen''s expression, Xing Meilian exined, "A thousand seems a lot, but it''s actually not much. Dragon Gold Celestial Pce has a poption of one million and two hundred thousand, with five hundred thousand at the Qi Condensation realm, three hundred and fifty thousand in Condensing Reality realm, a hundred and fifty thousand in sping Yuan realm, thirty thousand in Astral Reaching realm, and two thousand in Sea of Soul realm."


    "After one''s cultivation reaches the Condensing Reality Realm, spirit stones are needed to cultivate further. Even if one person consumes a hundred low grade spirit stone in a year, just the cultivators of Condensing Reality Realm alone will consume three million and five hundred thousand low grade spirit stones. Adding sping Yuan cultivators, it will exceed three hundred million, and might even reach five hundred million."


    "At Astral Reaching realm, one will need mid grade spirit stones, and the consumption is above ten million. In reality, mid grade spirit stones are almost stretching thin, because at this level, they are also paid sry—a hundred at least nd going up to several thousand per month. Adding it all, it surpasses two hundred million."


    "This is merely the annual consumption. Over a decade, this consumption is frightening. Not to mention, it would be impossible for the sect to not stock arge number of spirit stones in reserve—a fifty year reserve is quite normal, especially for a fifth grade sect."


    Ye Chen faintly nodded, as he already had a fair understanding of the Dragon God Celestial Pce. Fifth grade sects and sixth grade sects had a difference like that of Life and Death realm and Sea of Soul realm. It only seemed like a difference of one level, but it was actually immense. In the same way, the difference between sixth grade sects and seventh grade sects was like that of one between the Sea of Soul realm and Astral Reaching realm.


    For example, a lot of people joined Ye family nowadays due to Ye Chen. At present, Ye family had five thousand Qi Condensation disciples, two thousand Condensing Reality realm, several hundred sping Yuan disciples, and several Astral Reaching experts. However, it was nothingpared to a fifth grade sect, and their consumption of spirit stones was like a drop in the ocean for a fifth grade sect.


    Although Ye family seemed glorious, their burden was also big. There were many problems that could arise at any time, the biggest of which was the problem of resources.


    As a sect at the very top of all fifth grade sects, the burden of Dragon God Celestial Pce didn''t even need to be mentioned.


    Xing Meilian then said, "In the past, the pce used to upy a thousand and two hundred veins. In these past years, two hundred veins have been seized by the enemy."


    The two passed by many inds as they flew across, on which the crew of Dragon God Celestial Pce could be seen mining. Dragon God Celestial Pce and the four forces had an agreement of not harming the mining crew on the inds. They were only mining crew, and had no effect on either side''s strength.


    Far in the distance, the two saw a huge ind, rampant with strange rocks and lofty mountain ranges. The surfaces of these rocks emitted a dim metallic luster.


    Xing Meilian said, "This ind is rich in ck Vein Iron Ore, which can be smelted into ck Veined Iron, then forged into excellent metal-attributed weapons. A thousand jin of ck Veined Iron can be refined into one jin of Essence ck Veined Iron, which is a material for low-grade artifacts, and is extremely precious. Dragon God Celestial Pce has many Forging Masters who forge arge number of treasures every year. A part of these weapons is retained in the sect while the other is sold for spirit stones. This is also one of the revenues of a fifth grade sect."


    "Forging Masters?" Ye Chen had heard this title for the first time.


    Xing Meilian brushed her long hair away from her forehead and said, "In the ancient times, there were many forging techniques. However, as of now, most of them are lost. Only a few fifth grade sects have weapon forging techniques, among which, my Dragon God Celestial Pce is also included. Otherwise, how can there be so many weapons throughout the continent and four great oceans? You should know that treasured weapons also have a limited durability. If too much time passes, it can''t be passed on anymore."


    "That is true." Ye Chen had indeed gained some valuable knowledge.


    "Selling artifacts can be considered as one of the biggest sources of revenue, only below the extraction of spirit veins. Some weird metals even have a price not one bit lower than spirit stones, and some metals that can be forged in upper grade artifacts are even priced above upper grade spirit stonespared by weight."


    "Look, that ind is rich in Redfire Iron Ore. Redfire Iron is more precious than ck Veined Iron, because the Essence Redfire Iron it produces contains fire attributed energies, which can increase a weapon''s offense and add a ming effect. Unfortunately, one jin of Essence Iron needs ten thousand jin of Redfire Iron Ore."


    In the past, Ye Chen only knew that the most precious resources were spirit stones and medicinal pills, or perhaps some herbs. However, he now realized that rare metals were also precious resources. Perhapsmon sects might not have a use for them, but they could always sell them to fifth grade sects. Apart from rare metals, gems were also a kind of resource. Some gems contained arge amount of energy, and thus, could be substituted for spirit stones.


    Moreover, some gems could raise an artifact''s offense or defense upon being embedded in it. In short, there were all sorts of resources. The higher a sect''s level, the more resources they needed; not just in quality, but also inplexity. It was soplex that one might not even be able to get their heads around it.


    "Ahead is the core of Blood Battlefield Ocean''s core region. We might run into arge number of enemy troops there, so it''s best if don''t enter." Upon traveling for twenty thousand li, Xing Meilian looked around with a hesitant face and then said to Ye Chen.


    "That''s fine, continue to lead! I''m not clear on the circumstances of Blood Battlefield Ocean and the extent of resources upied by the pce. I must be clear on this."


    As a deputy of Azure Dragon Hall, if he didn''t even know which resources were upied by the pce, he wouldn''t be qualified at all. As for encountering enemies, even if they couldn''t beat them, they could always retreat easily. Not to mention, unless the enemies were huge in numbers, it was not certain who would kill whom.


    "Ah…?"


    Xing Meilian regretted inwardly. If she had known earlier that Ye Chen had such a strong curiosity, she wouldn''t have volunteered. Blood Battlefield Ocean was different from the other regions. Either one wouldn''t encounter enemies at all, or one would encounter dozens of them. It would be extremely rare to find a lone enemy here.


    They were only two people. Once they were encircled, they wouldn''t be able to escape at all, and the sky covering attacks from every direction would immediately destroy them.


    "I said it will be fine. You don''t need to worry." Ye Chen had gone through many dangers, such as the pursuit from five great experts in Blood Demon Battlefield and his encounters in Bewildering Fog Forbidden Region. Comparatively speaking, as long as there was arge scale war, small battles didn''t amount to any danger at all.


    "Fine then! But, if anything seems wrong, we''ll retreat immediately." Xing Meilian said helplessly.


    Ye Chen smiled faintly, "I treasure my life much more than you."


    ''That''s true! Otherwise, you wouldn''t be alive today." Xing Meilian herself could be considered a moderate genius. Geniuses had their own dazzling halos. However, the dangers they encountered couldn''t be imagined by normal people. Being a genius, one would think of all sorts of methods to augment one''s strength, and wouldn''t be satisfied by just drifting along the course. Therefore, dangerous sites had nock of marks left behind by geniuses.


    In short, talent was important, and so was luck, but tempering oneself was equally important.


    "Ahead is the ck Smoke Ind. All kinds of gems are frequently extracted from here, the most famous of which are the ck Smoke Gems, Dual Star Gems, and Fish Scale Gems. Due to this ind, there have been dozens ofrge-scale battles within two years. Fortunately, it''s still under our control."


    Xing Meilian didn''t dare be too rxed and scouted with soul power every once in a while.


    …


    Around five-six hundred li away was an ind. Experts with a ck octopus embroidered on their robes had seized the area. At a nce, the ind had thirty people stationed. Six of them had Sea of Soul realm cultivation bases while the rest had Astral Reaching cultivation bases.


    "Head Attendant!"


    Suddenly, a figure could be seen streaking across toward the ind. After a few flickers, it appeared on the ind''s center. His face was excited, as if bringing some good news.


    "What happened?" A fiendish man who was resting raised his head.


    "Head attendant, there are two Dragon God Celestial Experts near ck Smoke Ind. One is a beautiful woman and the other is a youngster." The former promptly said.


    "Beautiful woman!" The fiendish man grinned, revealing an ugly smile. He was a head attendant of the Dark King Sect. He had two hobbies: killing, and beautiful women. Among the beauties, he was most fond of still attractive middle-aged women. These kind of women were the most fun to y with, not to mention that she was also a Sea of Soul realm expert.


    "You made sure to follow their trail?"


    "Of course!"


    ck King Sect''s spirit animal was a ck octopus. In reality, the patriarch of ck King Sect was actually a ck octopus who had cultivated into Demon King. Once a ck octopus cultivated to the Sea of Soul realm, its status would be much higher than its human counterpart''s.